Early Ireland has many cases of Christians building monasteries,
establishing cemeteries, etc. near or on pagan holy places. In Ireland,
though, there doesn't seem to be evidence for Christian leaders
"pre-empting" in the sense of trying to draw pagans into the Church with
the familiarity of the location, as is so eloquently described by
Wallace-Hadrill in "The Frankish Church." Instead, as far as I can see,
there was a generally accepted sense that certain places were particularly
holy--whether pagan or Christian, the Irish knew that one could be in
closer contact with the numinous there. Is there discussion of this for
other parts of Europe?
Phyllis
Phyllis G. Jestice
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